Walter Smith III: Live At Berklee

Walter Smith III performs at Boston's Cafe 939 for a special version of WBGO's The Checkout Live.

Michael Borgida for NPR

Originally published on July 2, 2014 1:19 pm

If you've put an ear to some of the most talked-about jazz bands of the last few years, you've likely heard saxophonist Walter Smith III. He's kept the tenor chair in the Ambrose Akinmusire quintet, the Terence Blanchard quintet and Eric Harland's Voyager band, as well as the new NEXT Collective cover-band supergroup. In there, he's found time for his own bands, and recently signed a contract with Concord Records to document one of them. Here, he gathers an ensemble of mostly peers to show off the material he's been developing.

The Houston native returns to his alma mater, Berklee College of Music, for this installment of The Checkout: Live. WBGO and NPR Music presented a live radio broadcast and video webcast of the Walter Smith III quintet at Boston's Cafe 939. For the full concert archive of this series, visit npr.org/checkoutlive.

Set List

All compositions by Walter Smith III unless otherwise noted.

"Apollo"

"[Title]"

"July"

"Aubade" (Jason Moran/Andrew Hill)

"Fing Fast" [video highlight]

Personnel

Walter Smith III, tenor

Matt Stevens, guitar

Taylor Eigsti, piano

Harish Raghavan, bass

Clarence Penn, drums

Credits

Producer and Host: Josh Jackson; Audio Engineer: David Tallacksen. Recorded March. 7, 2013 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. Photo courtesy of Michael Borgida/Berklee College of Music.